1The serpent was more clever than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. The serpent said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat the fruit of any tree that is in the garden'?"

2The woman said to the serpent, "We can eat the fruit of the trees that are in the garden. 3But God did say, 'You must not eat the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden. Do not even touch it. If you do, you will die.' "

4"You can be sure that you won't die," the serpent said to the woman. 5"God knows that when you eat the fruit of that tree, you will know things you have never known before. You will be able to tell the difference between good and evil. You will be like God."

6The woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good to eat. It was also pleasing to look at. And it would make a person wise. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her. And he ate it.

7Then both of them knew things they had never known before. They realized they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together and made clothes for themselves.

8Then the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking in the garden. It was the coolest time of the day. They hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

9But the Lord God called out to the man. "Where are you?" he asked.

10"I heard you in the garden," the man answered. "I was afraid. I was naked, so I hid."

11The Lord God said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten the fruit of the tree I commanded you not to eat?"

12The man said, "It was the woman you put here with me. She gave me some fruit from the tree. And I ate it."

13Then the Lord God said to the woman, "What have you done?"

The woman said, "The serpent tricked me. That's why I ate the fruit."

14So the Lord God spoke to the serpent. He said, "Because you have done this, "I am putting a curse on you.

You are cursed more than all of the livestock

and all of the wild animals.

You will crawl on the ground.

You will eat dust

all of the days of your life.

15I will put hatred

between you and the woman.

Your children and her children will be enemies.

Her son will crush your head.

And you will crush his heel."

16The Lord God said to the woman, "I will greatly increase your pain when you give birth.

You will be in pain when you have children.

You will long for your husband.

And he will rule over you."

17The Lord God said to Adam, "You listened to your wife. You ate the fruit of the tree that I commanded you about. I said, 'You must not eat its fruit.' "So I am putting a curse on the ground because of what you did.

All the days of your life you will have to work hard

to get food from the ground.

18You will eat the plants of the field,

even though the ground produces thorns and thistles.

19You will have to work hard and sweat a lot

to produce the food you eat.

You were made out of the ground.

And you will return to it.

You are dust.

So you will return to it."

20Adam named his wife Eve. She would become the mother of every living person.

21The Lord God made clothes out of animal skins for Adam and his wife to wear. 22The Lord God said, "The man has become like one of us. He can now tell the difference between good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and pick fruit from the tree of life and eat it. If he does, he will live forever."

23So the Lord God drove the man out of the Garden of Eden to work the ground he had been made out of. 24The Lord God drove him out and then placed cherubim on the east side of the Garden of Eden. He also placed a flaming sword there. It flashed back and forth. The cherubim and the sword guarded the way to the tree of life.